1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a method for outputting traffic information in a motor vehicle.
2. Brief Description of Related Developments
It has already been known for some time to output traffic messages via radio transmitters so that the drivers of motor vehicles can listen to these traffic messages using a radio receiver in the vehicle. The individual radio transmitters supply essentially only traffic messages which relate to the relevant transmission area. Furthermore, the traffic messages are usually sorted in such a way that they are output according to the importance of the respective roads in question. Traffic messages relating to motorways are therefore usually broadcast before such messages relating to trunk roads and towns.
If, as is the case in conurbation areas, there are very large numbers of messages, the driver of a vehicle has to pay careful attention to the traffic messages as they are received, in order to determine whether there are traffic messages which are relevant to him. This can be extremely disruptive and distract the driver from the current events on the road. On the other hand, it is frequently the case here that the driver pays careful attention to the individual traffic messages, but at the decisive moment is disrupted by the current events on the road which, for reasons of safety, have priority for the driver's attention, with the result that he in fact fails to hear the traffic message which is of interest to him.
In addition to this traffic information system which uses public and private radio transmitters, further traffic information systems which permit a user, that is to say for example a driver of a motor vehicle, to request traffic information on a specific basis are already known.
In such a known traffic information system, the driver of a motor vehicle can communicate the geographic area for which he wishes to have traffic information to a terminal installed in the motor vehicle, before he begins a journey. To do this he has to enter appropriate information into the terminal, for instance the fact that the driver in future wishes to move within a town or intends, for example, to aim for a more distant destination on an overland route or a motorway. In the former case, only traffic information which relates to a circular region with a predetermined radius around the motor vehicle is displayed or communicated to the driver. The driver can also determine the magnitude of the radius. In contrast, in the latter case, the driver is only provided with traffic information which applies to a predefined region around the motor vehicle and to that region in which the motor vehicle is moving in the direction of the destination. In the second case, the region for which relevant traffic information is obtained is, as it were, in the form of a keyhole. Here too, radii and distances can be freely selected by the driver before he begins his journey, or can be predefined by the system.
Although in this traffic information system the number of traffic messages is reduced by the specific geographic limitation of the region for which traffic messages are output, the user who is interested in traffic information has to listen to all the traffic messages in order to determine whether there are traffic messages which are relevant to him.
On this basis, the invention is based on the object of making available a method for outputting traffic information in a motor vehicle, which makes it possible to output the traffic messages on a specific basis in such a way that the interested user is informed as quickly as possible of the traffic situation which is important for him.
This object is achieved by means of the method according to claim 1. Advantageous refinements of the invention are described in the subclaims.